/*
 * Copyright 2013 The Netty Project
 *
 * The Netty Project licenses this file to you under the Apache License,
 * version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
 * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
 *
 *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
 * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
 * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 * under the License.
 */
package io.netty.buffer;

import io.netty.util.ReferenceCounted;

/**
 * A packet which is send or receive.
 */
public interface ByteBufHolder extends ReferenceCounted {

  /**
   * Return the data which is held by this {@link ByteBufHolder}.
   */
  ByteBuf content();

  /**
   * Creates a deep copy of this {@link ByteBufHolder}.
   */
  ByteBufHolder copy();

  /**
   * Duplicates this {@link ByteBufHolder}. Be aware that this will not automatically call {@link
   * #retain()}.
   */
  ByteBufHolder duplicate();

  /**
   * Duplicates this {@link ByteBufHolder}. This method returns a retained duplicate unlike {@link
   * #duplicate()}.
   *
   * @see ByteBuf#retainedDuplicate()
   */
  ByteBufHolder retainedDuplicate();

  /**
   * Returns a new {@link ByteBufHolder} which contains the specified {@code content}.
   */
  ByteBufHolder replace(ByteBuf content);

  @Override
  ByteBufHolder retain();

  @Override
  ByteBufHolder retain(int increment);

  @Override
  ByteBufHolder touch();

  @Override
  ByteBufHolder touch(Object hint);
}
